My three favorite authors as a child were Shel Silverstein,
Bill Peet, and Maurice Sendak. Bill Peet showed me whimsy and silliness, Shel
Silverstein showed me true love and dark comedy. Maurice Sendak
showed me longing and heart. Though many of his books shaped my childhood
education, it’s no surprise that my favorite Sendak book was Where the Wild Things Are, a tale that
was about growing up and accepting responsibility as well as
